November 2024
The first time our son went to cooking camp, at age 9, he ate mushrooms. MUSHROOMS, people. On the second day, he came home inquiring about careers in cooking. By the end of the week, he was in the kitchen rolling out a mushroom-leek tart for our family dinner.
This is the life-changing magic of cooking camps.
Cooking is incredibly empowering for kids. The first time you’re handed a knife or told how to turn on the stove, it’s like being welcomed to an exclusive club. A well-structured camp gives kids a safe space to learn their way around a kitchen, experiment with tastes and techniques, and ultimately transform your home kitchen into a whole new realm of creative potential. Plus, becoming familiar with the ingredients—and all the hard work—that go into a dish can help them appreciate new flavors at the dinner table, no matter who’s cooking.
If you’re ready to give your kid a taste of kitchen fun, here’s a handy roundup of six cooking camps with a delectable array of summer and year-round options in the Triangle.
1. C’est si Bon
Website | Camp program: Kid Chefs
| Location: | North Chapel Hill 1002 Brace Ln., Chapel Hill, NC |
| Ages: | 8 – 14 |
| Hours: | 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM (summer camps) or 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM (schools-out camps) |
C’est si Bon takes kids on a culinary journey through cultures around the world with theme weeks throughout the summer and schools-out camps year-round. Campers work in groups to master essential kitchen skills—including cleaning up!—and enjoy daily palate games and a sit-down lunch to taste and discuss their creations.
With a motto that encourages kids to try everything, C’est si Bon gives kids an appreciation for all types of food while also welcoming and supporting pescatarians, vegetarians, and vegans. The summer 2025 schedule will include 11 consecutive weeks of camp starting June 9. Registration opens the week of Thanksgiving at their Kid Chefs website. For older kids, check out their Taste the Adventure program featuring week-long culinary trips for teens.
2. Children’s Culinary Institute
Website | Camp and Class Registration
| Locations: | Near Fearrington, between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro 1301 Andrews Store Rd., Pittsboro, NC |
| Ages: | Varies from pre-school to high school. Check camp details. Previous summer camps had separate weeks for kids ages 6-10 and 10-15. |
| Hours: | Typically 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM, sometimes with before and after care options. Check camp details. |
The Pittsboro location of the Children’s Culinary Institute opened in 2023 as the newest addition to a successful global franchise with a dozen kitchens in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Founder Chef Arlena has trained at the International Culinary School in London and Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, penned five children’s books about kids who grew up and changed the culinary world, and operated kids’ cooking classes and camps for 15 years. She’s also a certified chef and a certified child and youth culinary instructor.
Camps and classes include crafts, cooking, and games to help kids expand their palate, learn valuable life skills, and gain confidence in the kitchen. Class sizes are kept small to make sure each child gets individual attention. Find one-day and week-long cooking camps for pre-schoolers through high-schoolers at the Children’s Culinary Institute website. Information about summer 2025 classes will be posted in April.
3. Flour Power
Website | Camp options at: Cary | North Hills | Falls River | Holly Springs
| Locations: | Four locations in Cary and Raleigh See map of all locations |
| Ages: | 5 – 12 for most camps. Check camp details. |
| Hours: | 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM (summer camps) |
Flour Power is a national organization with four Triangle-area locations operating a huge selection of teacher workday, track-out, and summer camps and kids cooking classes. Camps offer hands-on experiences tailored for children of all ages and skill levels to explore the world of cooking, learn essential culinary skills, and unleash kids’ imagination in the kitchen. Their studios are all nut-free and shellfish-free and can accommodate many other allergies.
Camp offerings are posted on each location’s website months ahead for easy planning. (Insider tip: If you’re a pro planner, the Falls River location is already enrolling for weeklong camps through August 2025!) You can also change the search filters to explore other types of activities including kids’ nights and family events throughout the year.
4. Wynton’s World Cooking School
| Location: | Cary, near downtown 969 N. Harrison Ave., Cary, NC |
| Ages: | 7 – 11 for Kids’ Camp 12 – 16 for Teen Camp |
| Hours: | 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM |
Wynton’s World offers engaging summer cooking camps for kids along with a specialized teen culinary arts program for high schoolers. Choose from themes like world cuisine and the joy of baking to give your child an appreciation for kitchen and food safety practices, the ins and outs of ingredient selection and nutrition, and of course, great food!
Recipes are designed to build kids’ skills while being easy enough to cook at home. Vegetarians are welcome and meatless options are offered, but there is not a dedicated vegetarian camp option. Camps for 2025 not yet posted but should appear at the bottom of the Summer Cooking Camp page.
5. Carolina Friends School
| Location: | Durham, near Chapel Hill and Hillsborough 4809 Friends School Rd., Durham, NC |
| Ages: | 6 – 16 depending on the theme. Check camp details. |
| Hours: | 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM, with extended care options up to 8:00 AM – 5:45 PM |
Carolina Friends School operates a K-12 co-ed private school founded on Quaker values during the school year and a robust summer camp from June to August. Its beautiful 126-acre wooded campus is convenient to Durham, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough. Camp offerings cover a wide range of themes, with cooking and baking options available during most weeks. Last year’s lineup included Dessert Decorating, Cookie Crumbles, Easy as Pie, Cooking Around the World, and more.
The summer 2025 calendar will be available in mid-January. In the meantime, you can peruse the summer 2024 camps to get a sense of the typical themes and schedules.
6. Durham Spirits
| Location: | Durham, southwest of downtown 3222 Old Chapel Hill Rd., Durham, NC |
| Ages: | 9 – 14 depending on the theme. Check camp details. |
| Hours: | 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM |
Durham Spirits Company offers private cooking classes for adults year-round, and for a couple weeks each summer they open up their kitchen to kids for a special hands-on cooking camp. Campers learn essential cooking skills and sample tastes from around the world while preparing a snack, lunch, and dessert each day.
In 2024, they held two week-long camps with Asian cuisine themes covering a different national cuisine each day. The 2025 schedule will be posted on their cooking camps page in mid-January.
Do you have a story of your kiddo’s palate being transformed by a cooking camp? Share it in the comments to help others find awesome camps!
Camp photo credits: 1, 2. C’est si Bon! Cooking School; 3. Children’s Culinary Institute; 4. Flour Power Cooking Studios; 5. Durham Spirit Company, Inc.
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